ASU SOFTBALL: Belles finish sweep of No. 4 Pioneers

Urbany improves to 11-1 this season

SAN ANGELO, Texas - Neither the cold weather nor the No. 4 Texas Woman's Pioneers could cool off the red-hot 24th-ranked Angelo State University softball team Saturday.

The Belles swept a Lone Star Conference doubleheader against the Pioneers to win all three games at Mayer Field.

On the heels of an 11-3 victory in Friday's series opener, the Pioneers' first conference blemish, ASU won Saturday's opener 15-9 and took the nightcap 9-6.

Belles freshman designated player/pitcher Kenedy Urbany hit a pair of home runs and drove in a total of five runs and got the victory in the circle in Game 2, earning Player of the Game accolades. Catcher Megan Granado also had two homers in the finale.

Junior left fielder Rachel Moore had a grand slam in the bottom of the sixth in Game 1, as the Belles tattooed TWU ace Brandie Lander for five hits and 12 runs, 10 of which were earned, before she got chased after four innings.

The Belles handed Lander her first loss of the year Friday after a perfect 13-0 start with a 1.25 ERA. She came into the weekend as the conference leader in wins and ERA.

But Urbany got the upper hand in their two matchups over the weekend to improve to a sizzling 11-1.

With Saturday's sweep, the Belles improved to 20-7 overall and 5-1 in conference, while the Pioneers dropped to 17-6 and 3-3.

In front of a small but spirited contingent of fans that braved the cold weather, the Belles made a huge statement against one of the top teams in the country heading into next week's LSC Showcase at Wichita Falls.

"I tell you what, this was big," ASU head coach Travis Scott said. "We've been playing good softball here for the last three or four weeks and to be able to come out and do it against a great opponent and get the sweep ... Their pitching staff, if you look at their numbers, were unbelievable coming in here and we just lit it up.

"We knew our offense had been on a roll. This is the first test since St. Mary's against really good pitching and I thought our kids just did an outstanding job."

First baseman Darian Dunn and Moore drove in five runs apiece in Saturday's opener, and Sandra Serna gave up four earned runs and six hits in five innings to improve to 7-4.

The Pioneers looked like they might prevent a series sweep by jumping out to a 5-0 lead after the first two innings of Game 2, before the Belles erupted for two runs in the bottom of the fifth and four in the sixth to a turn a 5-3 deficit into a three-run victory.

The big blow was Moore's grand slam in the sixth.

"It felt awesome," said Moore, who was secretive about what pitch it was that she knocked out. "It was really nice for the people in the lineup in front of me to do their job and get on base, and I just picked the pitch that I knew I could hit hard."

Urbany was expecting the Belles to rally in Game 2.

"We know that Texas Woman's has a great softball program, and we know that they can swing it, but we battled back offensively really well," Urbany said. "I had no doubt us. I knew that we could easily come back and score, because that's the kind of hitting team we have."

The Belles have a lot of respect for the Pioneers, and the three-game sweep gives them a big boost of confidence heading into next week.

"We played Angelo State softball this weekend and that's never give up and when we get on top of somebody, try to put them away," Scott said. "And that's what we did this weekend. And for Kenedy to come out here and face a great hitting team out here and get two wins and had some battles.

"She just needs to get better in the first and second innings. After that, she seems pretty strong. We had a lot of home runs this week and we gave a lot of people in San Angelo a reason to come out and see us play."